Arrests in drug crackdown

PUBLISHED: 15:34 05 March 2008 | UPDATED: 09:32 23 August 2010

THREE people were arrested as part of a night-time crackdown on drug users and suppliers. Sixteen police officers carried out high visibility patrols in Gravesend and carried out stop checks on people between 6pm and 2am on Saturday, March 1. A total of

THREE people were arrested as part of a night-time crackdown on drug users and suppliers.

Sixteen police officers carried out high visibility patrols in Gravesend and carried out stop checks on people between 6pm and 2am on Saturday, March 1.

A total of 17 people were searched and alcohol was also seized during the operation.

Police set up an Ion Track drug testing machine as a condition of entry to Bar 24 in Stone Street and more than 300 people were searched but no drugs were found.

PC Adrian Parsons, North Kent Drugs and Licensing officer, said: "We want to make Gravesend a very difficult place for drug users and suppliers, and in turn, an even safer place for everybody else to socialise and enjoy themselves."

A 25-year-old man from Gravesend was arrested for possession of cocaine with intent to supply. His vehicle was stop-checked in King Street and eight bags of cocaine were found with a street value of £320.

Officers also arrested a 26-year-old man from Gravesend for his part in the supply of class A drugs. A 25-year-old man from Welling was arrested for public order offences and given a fixed-penalty notice after being asked to leave the Pembroke public house in King Street. The two other men were released on bail pending an investigation.